Jan Mustafa's cousin Ayse Hussein joins Killed Women protest

Ayse Hussein, 47, joined relatives of other murdered women in Westminster to call for an end to rules which research found mean killings in domestic settings attract lower sentences.

The families put up blue plaques marking locations where women were murdered and the sentences their killers received.

They then carried the signs - which campaign group Killed Women dubbed 'black and blue plaques', in a reference to domestic abuse - to Parliament, where they met Labour MP Jess Phillips and new minister for victims of violence against women and girls, Alex Davies-Jones.

Ayse’s cousin Mihrican Mustafa – a 38-year-old former West Ham United FC waitress, known to loved ones as Jan – was found murdered in the Custom House flat of paedophile and serial woman beater Zahid Younis.

Police found Jan’s body, alongside that of 34-year-old Ilford woman Henriett Szucs, in a switched-off chest freezer surrounded by flies in April 2019.

Younis was sentenced to life with a minimum of 38 years for both murders.

A treasured photograph of Jan Mustafa with her arm around cousin Ayse Hussein (Image: Ayse Hussein) But research by Killed Women found murders committed inside people’s homes generally attract lesser sentences, due to what it calls “outdated and misogynistic" sentencing guidelines.

On average, the group found, murders inside the home result in minimum tariffs ten years shorter than murders in public.

The group says this means women killed by domestic abusers typically receive a lesser form of justice.

“Seeing the plaques was very powerful – seeing the girls’ names and the years sentenced,” said Ayse.

“Seeing them all together, it just shows the lack of sentencing time on them. Some of them are really short, like 12 years.

“Jan’s killer did get 38 years, so that’s a bonus for us, but it’s still not good enough because it’s only 19 years per person – so if it had only been Jan, then what would he have got?

“Murder is murder, whether it’s inside the home or outside the home. Every murder should get a minimum of 25 years.

“It’s not fair how they pick and choose stupid rules between in the home and outside the home – it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

The families of murdered women were joined outside the Houses of Parliament by Jess Phillips MP and new minister for victims of violence against women and girls Alex Davies-Jones (Image: Killed Women) The Killed Women campaign was founded by Julie Devey and Carole Gould, whose daughters Poppy and Ellie were murdered by their ex-boyfriends.

“Even though many murders are preventable, as the killers have a prior history of abuse, the final indignity is delivered in sentencing when the murderers receive an average of ten years less than for murders outside,” said Julie.

“This must stop. The minimum term must represent the crime and shouldn’t be determined by the location.”

Jan’s murderer Younis had a string of convictions for violence against women, having once injured a woman so badly she was left unable to walk for six months.

He had also once married a child bride.

Ayse has been involved in the Killed Women campaign for three or four years now, she said.

The former Conservative government opened a consultation into the starting tariff for domestic murders, which closed in March.

The party’s election manifesto pledged to raise the minimum tariff to 25 years – but it lost power and Labour took over.

Ayse was interviewed outside the Houses of Parliament during the Killed Women protest (Image: Ayse Hussein)

Killed Women campaigners therefore congregated outside Parliament on Tuesday, September 17, to call on new Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and justice secretary Shabana Mahmood to match the Tories’ pledge.

The stunt generated “loads and loads of press interest,” said Ayse.

“We have to keep campaigning and making as much as noise as possible, because that’s the only way they take note.

“It’s not fair that grieving families have to do the government’s job. They should be doing it themselves, not making us campaign and go through so much grief for it. It’s wrong.”

Contacted by the Recorder, the Ministry of Justice would not commit to the changes Killed Women are seeking.

However, it released a statement from Alex Davies-Jones, who said: “It’s humbling to be alongside these courageous friends and families continuing to campaign for their loved ones, cruelly snatched away by heinous acts of violence at the hands of men.

“This is such an important issue and this government will treat tackling violence against women and girls as the national emergency it is.”